ABC's "Nightline" on Friday featured Michael Jordan and
his relationship with Nike entitled, "The Selling of an
Idol." In the opening segment, ABC's Chris Bury reported
"the Air Jordan is now the single hottest shoe in the $7.5
billion American market. For Jordan, the Nike deal is worth
as much as $10 million a year." Nike's Dir of Marketing
Erin Patton: "We really see his product as a high
performance luxury car, and we treat its distribution much
the same, to keep that special." ABC's Bury: "But Nike's
crown jewel is coveted most by some young people who can
afford it least -- poor inner city kids. And all the
carefully-krafted hype surrounding Air Jordans is raising
real questions about the message it sends." Patton, on
reports of people committing murder for the Jordan shoes:
"Much the same as luxury car makers face when their cars are
carjacked, they take that into consideration, but by no
means should they limit their philosophy in attempt to
produce a high performance product for their consumers."
Univ. of CA Professor Harry Edwards: "It is shortsighted to
look at Mike and say that he is exploiting inner-city
children. Mike is a commodity himself. And I'm quite
certain that he realizes that if he stepped back and said
'I'm not going to take another dime from Nike,' within a
predictable period of time, Nike will have selected,
packaged and promoted another athlete to sell shoes to that
same market, and nothing will have changed." ABC's Bury:
"Nike and Michael Jordan, perhaps sensitive to some of the
criticism, have come up with a solution of sorts. They are
quietly developing a new line of shoes and clothing, that
will offer the Jordan name at lower prices."
JORDAN'S RULES: Jordan, on the price of his shoes:
"We've tried to maintain a very affordable price. There's
been a lot of other shoes that have come out that cost more
than my shoe. .... For the most part, we've tried to listen
to our consumer and more or less appease them." On a new
Nike/MJ line: "We're trying to expand the line, to where we
have more than just one particular shoe, we'll have an
abundance of shoes. ... We're going to have four to five
different brands, to attack the different financial needs.
There's going to be some cheaper Air Jordans, not in terms
of quality but just in terms of price" (ABC, 2/7).
